Dec. 21st, 2013

Integration Under The Moon of Codes

mood: crushed

I recently discovered this song- apparently it's an ending from a video game or something? Anyway, while I love the music, it hurts me to listen to it, because it's a reminder of everything I've lost this year.

My entire life. My entire life up until this point was spent preparing to go into information technology, and now, thanks to goddamn calculus, my whole life plan is laying shattered at my feet. Maybe I'll go to law school now, but I never really wanted to be a lawyer.

At least the song is good, even though I cried for about an hour after I heard it the first time.

Oct. 1st, 2013

It's October!

mood: indifferent

And you know what that means?

It's time for stupid Halloween jokes, silly Halloween songs, and bad memes! I'm not going to inundate you with ridiculousness, but I have to share this video. Someone showed it to me last October, and it's been stuck in my head on and off since last Halloween.

Sep. 16th, 2013

Sharing the Ear-Worm

Jul. 29th, 2013

帰りました

mood: morose

As of yesterday, I’m back in the United States. Instead of being relieved to be home, however, I feel a sort of sense of loss.

Maybe it was because I was actually happy for once when I was in Japan. I didn’t wake up every morning full of despair that I was going to have to face another day- dredge myself up out of bed to another day of mind-numbing boredom at work or school or both, only to come home and try to numb the numbness even more by wasting time on the Internet in a vain attempt to stimulate my mind. Maybe it was because the more time I spent in Japan, the more it started to look like I could actually have a future there, a better life. All through elementary through high school, everyone told us that America was the land of the opportunity- people from all over the world came here to have a better life- my ancestors did. But at the same time, I started to feel like I might actually be able to have some sort of life in Japan- I could get a job with a company without a college degree, I could teach English or computer science without a degree, from what I was told.

An acquaintance of mine told me that the job market in Japan is so much better than in America, and they told me that I’d be able to get work. He suggested that I come back to America for a while, then try to apply for immigration permits. And I have to say that the suggestion has merit, and it’s very tempting. I could have a better life. I could actually have a life in general, not just one where I sort of… exist, like what I’ve been doing for the past twenty-one years.

But, it’s futile. I’m going to stay in college in the US, and by the time I manage to graduate the opportunities will probably all be gone. I will likely live out the rest of my life the way I’ve lived it up to this point now.

It frustrates me. I saw, for seven wonderful weeks, that I could have a future, that I could actually be happy somewhere. I haven’t even been back in the US for twenty-four hours, before my parents are getting on my case about graduating from school, doing x, doing y, doing z. It’s enough to drive a person out of their mind.

Finally, I’d like to end with a song I sang at karaoke one night, that sums up my feelings on this matter pretty well. The translation isn’t entirely accurate, but the song is very difficult to properly translate into English, and it is more or less correct, just not the exact words at the right time.

Jan. 14th, 2013

Oh please

mood: bitchy

I really cannot believe I'm about to write an entire blog post defending Taylor Swift, but I guess I am. But before I start, let's get one thing straight .I do not like Taylor Swift. I think her songs are annoying, repetitive, and sound very similar to each other. There is not much variety there, and I don't particularly like that. I like music to at least s witch up the themes occasionally. “Abloobloobloo my boyfriend broke up with me” gets really old after a while.

But you know what I dislike even more than repetitive, annoying music? And anyone who's read the Lawn for a while will know where this is going. I dislike people who try to turn every little goddamn thing into a pissing contest over politics.

Are you shitting me right now? You're going to whine about Taylor Swift's “slut-shaming” music?

Methinks someone is butthurt because Taylor Swift has more money than they'll ever have in their entire lifetime put together. “Oh, Taylor Swift has internalized misogyny and feeds heavily into the patriarchy.”

If I run this through my “extremist to English” translation machine, it comes out with “baaaaw Taylor Swift is richer than me and I don't like that!”

Look, you don't have to like her, or her music. I don't either. But at least have the balls/ovaries/tentacle-y bits to admit the real reason behind it. Don't couch your dislike in pseudo-intellectual terminology and throw around the sociology textbook buzzwords like confetti at the parade. You just come off as kind of jealous, miserable, and uninformed.

Jul. 7th, 2012

Even now, you taunt me still

mood: aggravated

Shoot the Messenger- H8_Seed
While technically it's a fan-made My Little Pony song, this song speaks to me on so many different levels, and it's not explicitly My Little Pony themed. I feel like everyone has had this experience, feeling like they've been taken advantage of by someone, but still realizing that the other person needs them. I feel like this sometimes at work. If I left, the company I work for would have some problems trying to find someone competent enough to take over my job. Being a clerk isn't exactly hard, but my unofficial job is very difficult and I'm the only one that has any idea what they're doing on a computer. And yet I still work for a pittance.

Song lyrics: You pride yourself on being rather shrewdAnd yet you never show me gratitudeI'm sick and tired of playing your dumb gameI'm hurt and you're the one to blame

I just wanna will it awayBut even now, you taunt me stillYou pretend to think it's okayThat I'm the one that holds your quill

I hope when you think about the things you sayThat you know you need me; I don't need youAnd you knew not to shoot your messenger(Well, if you didn't, then now you do)

I just wanna will it awayBut even now, you taunt me stillYou pretend to think it's okayThat I'm the one that holds your quill

Jan. 9th, 2012

Eminem + Ponies = I'm actually not sure...

mood: amused

But I do know that it's hilarious. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. And, once again, I can't believe I'm having to do this on a pony post, but it does need to be done for this (it is Just Lose It, after all), but this is kinda NSFW.

Dec. 24th, 2011

Sopa Cabana

mood: groggy

This is an excellent rap from a guy in England that really details what will happen to our society if the SOPA passes. Forget about having Freedom of Speech for us American citizens, much less for citizens of other countries- it would be like the Great Firewall of China goes international.

Again, I beg of you, if you haven't done it yet, please contact your congresscritters or local American embassy and fight to help stop this insidious bill that will destroy our freedoms.

May. 11th, 2011

30 Day Music Challenge: Days 29 and 30

mood: discontent

The past few days have been really busy- job hunting during the day, hanging out with my friends at night, and I've barely had any time to use the computer, and missed these two. And we're finally done! That's the last time I do a 30 Day Anything- I was really sick of it by Day 10. But I'm also one of those people who tries to finish what I start, so I kept on with it. Finally, I'm done.

There are a lot of songs from my childhood, even more that I remember from the late 1990s/early 2000s. But I really liked this one when I was in third grade, and I heard it on the radio the other day. It immediately got stuck in my head and took me back to that time. And listening to it now? I don't know why I liked it so much. Aaron Carter's singing voice is kind of annoying, imho.

Day 30: Your favourite song at this time last year: I honestly don't remember.

May. 8th, 2011

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 28

Despite the fact that my parents did their best to override this teaching, I was taught by my great-grandmother that the most important thing in this life is to get rich. That's the thing that matters, and she does have kind of a reason for this- she immigrated to the US right before the Depression, and was cheated by her husband, who she resented until he died. But this song is basically the opposite of that philosophy, and shows what happens when that ideology is taken to extremes. Makes me feel kind of guilty, because this is like the exact opposite of what I believe for a long time.

May. 6th, 2011

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 26

I USED to be able to play more music on the piano and the saxophone, but I haven't done either in over five years. The only thing I can remember how to do is play Jingle Bells, unless I have some music and a couple of hours to try to reteach myself.